Dependence of Critical Current and Quench Energy of BSCCO-2223 Tapes on Bending Diameter

This paper describes the experimental results of a test method for determining the retained critical current after double bending at room temperature for short and straight Ag- and/or Ag alloy-sheathed Bi-2223 superconducting tapes. The critical current measurements were performed after double bending samples of a Bi-2223 tape manufactured by Sumitomo with different bending diameters set to 50, 60, and 80 mm. The results allow one to determine the critical bending diameter of the tape. An experimental technique was also developed for the measurements of the quench energy (QE) of the tapes in boiling liquid nitrogen. The impact of the bending on the QE was experimentally determined through measurements performed on the same samples previously used for the critical current measurements.